OVERVIEW - Solar, wind deals hit 4.7 GW in January 2018

February 12, 2018 (Renewables Now) - Solar and wind deals totalled 4.7 GW in the first month of 2018, Green Dealflow says in its January transaction activity report.

Green Dealflow, an online marketplace for wind and solar projects, maintains a transaction database tracking publicly announced sales and purchases of equity interests in solar and wind assets.

SOLAR

In the solar industry, the report records 23 transactions amounting to approximately 2.8 GW in gross capacity transacted. The number of solar transactions is higher than the 2017 average of 17 solar transactions per month (209 transactions were recorded in 2017) and almost double the 13 transaction recorded in January 2017. Compared to December 2017, the number of transactions is also up from 19. Only two months in 2017, November and February with 24 and 26 transactions, respectively, saw more solar transactions than January 2018.

The largest contributor to January’s high dealflow is Canadian Solar, being on the buy-side of five transactions and the sell-side of three transactions.

In terms of capacity transacted, January has also significantly outperformed the 2017 average, with only two months exceeding January’s gross capacity transacted. Both regarding transactions and capacity, Australia dominated the global solar scene in January, a consequence of all eight of Canadian Solar’s deals involving Australian assets.

WIND

As for the wind industry, the report records 17 transactions amounting to approximately 2.0 GW in gross capacity transacted. Unlike the solar industry, the wind industry saw both number of transactions and gross capacity transacted below the 2017 averages. Moreover, January 2018 underperformed January 2017, which saw 25 transactions amounting to approximately 3.3 GW gross capacity transacted.

DEVELOPMENT STAGE

In January 2018, the majority of solar assets transacted were under development, while the majority of wind transactions were operational assets, a trend lending itself to the greater maturity of the wind industry and the tremendous pace at which solar capacity is being deployed globally.